


Nate, Good Happy Nate

by AbbeyTheWeeb



Category: 18th Century CE RPF, American Revolution RPF, Historical RPF, Turn (TV 2014)
Genre: Alcohol, Angst, Confusion, Grief/Mourning, M/M, Presumed Dead, Tears, tench is very confsued
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-09-22
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:14:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26605807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AbbeyTheWeeb/pseuds/AbbeyTheWeeb
Summary: Tench Tilghman has to deliver a message to a captain.
Relationships: Nathan Hale (1755-1776)/Benjamin Tallmadge
Kudos: 16





	Nate, Good Happy Nate

“Nate?”

“Excuse me?” I am very confused. I don’t know who Nate is at all, I never even heard of a Nate around here. Possibly one of the Baron’s folk. “You are misunderstood, I’m not Nate. I’m Mr. Tilghman, one of George Washington’s aides-de-camp.”

The smell of alcohol reeks in the tent. “Nate.”

I step into the room and the man looks at me. Pretty blue eyes, his hair pulled back in a little braid. There are glass bottles around his room, I swear I see about five. The man is drunk, I can tell from his terrible eye coordination and his flushed pink cheeks. I dip my head in respect. “Sir, His Excellency General wash-”

“You know the date?”

“Yes sir, it’s the twenty-second,” I start to realize that this man is too drunk to bring him a report. The sun was falling into the distance in the year of our Lord 1777. The war was two and a half years now and everyone was getting sick of it, the dead bodies were too much for everyone all ready. “Sir, do you need help?”

I suspect he needs it. He stumbles to the desk near his bed and pulls a small book out. “He wrote me poems.”

“General Washington, sir?” I never suspected the general to write poems. If he did, they were probably to his wife, not one of his captains. 

“No,” he exhales a breath that sounds like he is being choked. “Nate.”

Who was this Nate? I’m sure it is a small nickname for Nathan. Was this Nate a man who died in the recent battle? There was the battle at Brandywine where the Marquis was shot in the leg. But I heard nothing from Nate. Possibly he was dead and did not show up on the list of dead soldiers? He would have been low rank for me to not hear anything about it. “Do you want me to read the poems?”

I do not know what to do at this point. 

“I read them. They were for me,” he hiccups and gags, like he’s about to vomit. He does nothing about it though, all he does is read the book. “You know what he called me?”

“I do not know, sir.”

“Damon,” he smiles. I can see tears in his eyes. “I was Damon. Best of friends.”

I am genuinely confused, I do know this man’s name is not Damon. Nothing even close to it. Perhaps it was something else? Some other boy in his family was named Damon? 

“I’m starting to forget what I called him.”

“Nate?” I raise an eyebrow. That is the person I and this drunken man have been talking about for the past few minutes. 

“No, not that,” he shakes his head. I see his eyes scan the pages of the small book and then he closes it. “Began with a P.”

“I don’t know, sir.”

“Pythias,” his eyes brightened up and the tears started to flood out. “Called him that all the time. He was my little Pythias.”

“Do you want me to leave you alone, sir?” I bite my lip, it is clear to me that this man is in a terrible emotional state right at the moment. He shakes his head and he starts to wail. 

“It’s been a year,” he sobs. 

“I’m sorry for whatever happened to Nate,” I dip my head. “I will tell you His Excellency’s message tomorrow when you are well.”

“Thank you, Mr. Tilghman.”

I dip my head and exit out of the tent. What a strange man he was, however, I understood that grief can take control of a person in very odd ways. I wonder who this Nate is and what happened a year ago. I better not stick my nose in the poor man’s business, though. That would be quite rude of me.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!


End file.
